As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses continually seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users of information is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary with regard to the kind of information that is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use, including such uses as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Computers, including servers and workstations, are often grouped in clusters to perform specific tasks. A server cluster is a group of independent servers that is managed as a single system. Compared with groupings of unmanaged servers, a server cluster is characterized by higher availability, manageability, and scalability. A server cluster typically involves the configuration of a group of servers such that the servers appear in the network as a single machine or unit. At a minimum, a server cluster includes two servers, which are sometimes referred to as nodes, which are connected to one another by a network or other communication links. A storage network may be coupled to the server cluster. A storage network will typically include one or more storage devices that may or may not be shared by the servers of the server cluster. A storage network may include one or more storage enclosures, which may house a plurality of disk-based hard drives. A storage controller may be included within the servers of the server cluster of a storage controller may be external to the servers and included within the enclosures of the storage network.
The servers of the cluster server may communicate with the storage network according to the Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) communications protocol. Serial Attached SCSI is a storage network interface that is characterized by a serial, point-to-point architecture. In addition, the storage of a cluster network may include some element of fault tolerant storage. One example of fault tolerant storage is RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) storage. RAID storage involves the organization of multiple disks into an array of disks to obtain performance, capacity, and reliability advantages.
Each server of a cluster network is sometimes identified as a node of the network. The nodes of a cluster network are directly coupled to one another to support the operational monitoring of each nodes, the sharing or failing-over of storage resources among the nodes in the storage network, and the configuration of the cluster network. In the event of a failure of the direct communication link, the operation of the cluster network could be compromised, as the nodes can no longer directly communicate with one another to monitor and manage the operation of the cluster network.